We've all been on flights so you know the drill: before the plane takes off, the flight attendant reviews the safety information. One of the items on this list is what to do in the event that cabin pressure is lost. The instructions delivered tell us that an air mask will drop from the ceiling and that we are to put our mask on first before helping others with their mask. It is a simple concept - we need to make sure we are okay before we can assist others. Yet, in the helping field, we sometimes forget this basic tenet: if we are not safe and healthy, we cannot help others.
As you all know by now, the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay has a mission to ensure that no one in our community has to face crisis alone. Over the past eight weeks, we have experienced record numbers of phone calls from community members in a suicidal crisis. In fact, we had two consecutive weeks where we received over 200 suicide calls a week. This is a significant increase because prior to April 2018, we were receiving about half that number a week! So imagine the impact of this increase on our Intervention Specialists who respond to these crisis calls.
The analogy of an airplane air mask illustrates the concept of self-care. Self-care is defined as any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health. At the Crisis Center, we know that good self-care is essential to improved mood and reduced anxiety. It's also key to a good relationship with oneself and others. In order for our Intervention Specialists to compassionately and professionally interact with suicidal callers, they must have and utilize strong self-care plans and strategies. As part of every initial orientation and during supervision, self-care is taught and reviewed. Additionally, staff are asked their "SUDS" - subjective units of distress - rating. This is a simple scale of 1-10 used to measure how you are feeling. If I answer that my SUDS are a 1, I'm feeling happy and content. If I answer a 10, I am really freaking out!!! Supervisors use this simple, but powerful tool to monitor the stress level of our staff.
So, as you can see, self-care is an important part of our culture and is promoted across the Crisis Center and with the clients we serve. In closing, I want to remind all of you that life is stressful, and it is important for all of us to practice self-care. Taking time for ourselves is not selfish. In fact, it is the only way we can truly give ourselves to others.
Take good care of yourself!
Clara
